Abstract
Thermocapillary convection in a half-zone method is induced by applying the temperature difference ⊿T between cylindrical hot and cold rods sustaining a liquid bridge. If ⊿T exceeds a critical value ⊿T_C, the flow field exhibits a transition from a two-dimensional steady flow to a three-dimensional time-dependent oscillatory one. The onset of the oscillation is known to be sensitive to heat transfer at free surface caused by the ambient air flow. In the present study, the stability of the thermocapillary convection is investigated experimentally and numerically. The effects of the ambient air temperature and the aspect ratio of liquid bridge are discussed. The results of numerical simulation yield a good agreement with the experimental critical values.
